Have you ever heard of the flipped classroom? This model has been around for many years, but, with the pandemic, it has become more and more relevant as we dive into online learning. In its essence, the concept is this : the teacher creates a video lesson ahead of time that they share with the students who then complete the work independently before class. The idea is to free up class time for the teacher to be able to support the students with more practice, more guided instruction, etc. To learn more about the flipped classroom, check out this quick video that explains it all.
I started using it this year because I couldn’t find enough time in my week to implement an effective spelling program (Words Their Way)! A frustration, I am sure, that any teacher encounters at one point. Flipping my classroom has been a game changer for me, and the beauty of it, is that it can be done with almost ANY lesson! So the benefits of the flipped classroom are huge, but how do you engage teenagers in a pre-recorded video lesson? Based on my own experience creating interactive video lessons, here are some simple tips to make it work.
#1 Teach the behaviors
The flipped classroom will not work well if you do not teach your students how to learn with it. You need to explicitly show to your students what they should be doing during the video lesson : pause the video to write down a question; rewind if they didn’t understand; take note of the important information… Therefore, the first couple of times, I suggest completing the video lesson with the students to explicitly teach them the behaviors and expectations you have for them.
#2 Create a script
Before filming your video lesson, it can be a good idea to write down the structure of your lesson and to write down some of the things you want to say. This can make your lesson flow more easily as you will be more confident and better prepared. Here is an example of my script for one of my lessons :
#3 Keep it short
Just like in the classroom, you don’t want to be talking for 30 minutes without having the students engaging. My goal is for the video to be 10 minutes maximum and for the follow-up activity to take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. This is where the script can also be useful, as it can help you manage the length of your lesson. In average, my lessons are 20 minutes, including the follow-up activity at the end.
#4 Make it interactive
Engage students during the lesson by asking them to pause the video to reflect on their learning; to try out what you modeled; or to take the time to answer a question you asked. Why not invite them to do a quick brain break with you? This will ensure that students are participating and actively listening to your video lesson. Teaching those behaviors in the classroom and modeling those expectations will also help you reach that goal, as mentioned before.
#5 Check student comprehension
After the students watch the video lesson, you may choose to integrate a quick and short activity to make sure the students understood the lesson. This can count towards formative assessment and can be done in different ways : mini-quiz on Google Forms, interactive drag and drop in Google Slides, short reflection to be posted on Padlet…
It takes a couple of tries at first, and some mistakes, but soon enough, you will be a pro at prerecording video lessons (if you’re not already)! Feel free to share other tips you may have by commenting, or by reaching out to us on social media.
